Will a California Study Lead to Legalized Online Poker Within the State?

Will the State of California call for an in-depth study into online poker? Yes, if state legislator Lloyd Levine has anything to say about it.

Levine authored bill AB 2026, which calls for a study to be conducted by the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) into the legality of the pastime if it were to be controlled and operated by Californian entities.

The study would answer questions about whether California could legalize poker within the state, and examine “regulatory oversight and licensing, technological issues, underage and problem gambling matters, methods of play and types of games that may be legally offered, economic benefits to state and local governments, and the means by which those games and forms of gambling may be conducted and operated.”

Levine's bill, which could be heard as early as March, proposes a deadline for the study of June 30, 2009, and calls for the study to coordinate with the US Department of Justice to assess whether the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) applies to transactions within a state.

Assemblyman Levine surmised in an interview, that as long as the player and the server are located in the same state, federal law probably does not apply, but a definitive answer to the issue was needed.

If AB 2026 is enacted, we’ll find out in a year.